Daily Archives: March 27, 2012

Filigree and ShadowNASA – Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow brightly in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula, taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The nebula lies about 1,500 light-years away, and is a supernova remnant, left over from a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000-8,000 years ago. The Cygnus Loop extends more than three times the size of the full moon in the night sky, and is tucked next to one of the ‘swan’s wings’ in the constellation of Cygnus.

The filaments of gas and dust visible here in ultraviolet light were heated by the shockwave from the supernova, which is still spreading outward from the original explosion. The original supernova would have been bright enough to be seen clearly from Earth with the naked eye. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

By Greg Stohr – The U.S. Supreme Court opened today (Mar 26, 2012) its historic review of President Barack Obama’shealth-care law, three days of arguments that might result in the president’s premier legislative achievement being found unconstitutional in the middle of his re-election campaign.

The six hours of planned debate that began this morning is the most on a case in 44 years. The core dispute — the law’s upcoming mandate that uninsured people purchase coverage –comes on the second day.

First, the justices today hear arguments on a seemingly arcane question: Does the penalty for failing to get insurance amount to a tax?

There is no disguising the fact that it would be complicated to revamp the way that banks are taxed. But given the havoc they caused in the recent financial crisis, the fact that the sector is undertaxed and the way in which the current system distorts economic activity, it is well worth the effort. more> http://is.gd/bFQsfx

DigInfo TV – Developed by Hitachi Kokusai Electric, the system can automatically detect a face from either surveillance footage or a regular photo, and search for it. This surveillance camera system can search through data on 36 million faces in one second.

With this system, it’s assumed that faces are turning within around 30 degrees in the horizontal and vertical directions from the camera, and the faces are at least 40 x 40 pixels in size. more> http://is.gd/PULgk3